•Understand what is expected of you and how your role impacts the success of your team.

•Understand how you work with others on the team – are you working more independently or are teammates relying on you for their work?

•Find a buddy on the team that you can ask questions

Learn Your Team Priorities and Company Structure

• Understand how you work with other teams.

• Review your team’s goals and understand how your work sits within those goals.

• Understand the challenges on the team and how you can help improve

• Connect with others (ask your team who should I introduce myself too?)

Learn how the company makes money (and how your role impacts that)

• This helps you focus on high impact work. Once you know how your role impacts, it helps you direct your work and focus on the right work.

• Complete training courses available on how the business works

• Ask your manager how the team’s work impacts the success of the organization.

..not just the “How”. Questions to ask yourself as you learn.

As you are learning about your responsibilities don’t just ask for step by step, but  also:

• Why is this task needed?

• How does it impact the success of the team?

• What would happen if this process didn’t happen or if done wrong?

Knowing the context can help you learn it faster (and correctly) as well as how to improve the process

• Now that I know what we are trying to achieve, how can I make this more efficient, faster, more impactful?

Understand what your manager wants you to accomplish

• Ask what your manager what would they like you to accomplish in the first 30,60, 90 days. Ensure it is clear what is expected of you. Questions to ask –

  • How can I be successful in this role?

  • What are you looking for me to have accomplished by the end of my first month

• What have other successful people in this role accomplished and what have been the gaps?

•How can I make this better or more impactful?

Understand how your manager’s and team’s communication preferences

• Ask how they prefer to communicate (email, calls, etc.) and how often you should provide updates.

• Ask them if there are others on the team, you can direct questions when your manager is not available.

Observe workplace norms - some rules aren’t written down

• Watch how people dress, speak, and run meetings

• Notice how formal the environment is

• Learn what’s okay to ask publicly vs. privately

• Assess if it is more collaborative or self-focused

Take on any task able to create some quick wins for yourself and build up your confidence and reliability on the team.

• Only take on tasks that you can manage. Follow through on all projects and responsibilities. If things are getting overwhelming or you’re stuck, communicate this proactively with your manager/team.

• Create new innovative ways of doing things or build your own side projects. Managers will recognize when someone takes initiative unprompted. Process improvements are always valued.

• Ask for a lot of feedback and implement it quickly. When you submit your first project/ assignment, ask for feedback on how you can do better (things like how you presented it, organized it, etc.) and then document so you can keep it top of mind

• Don’t take it personally or get defeated. Feedback is so important, especially in a new role. Often, it’s not about you, it’s about the structure or preferences of the team.

Ask Questions early and often (its normal)

• Write things down so you don’t repeat questions. Asking questions is expected but ensure you are retaining the answers. Track the responses in your development tracker.

• If you’re stuck, say so early (don’t disappear). Don’t wait for a meeting to ask a question. You may feel nervous or don’t want to bother them, but it is better to ask proactively than wait or go in the wrong direction

• Don’t be afraid to admit what you don’t know. You are new, you are not expected to know how things are done. It’s okay to say, “I’m not sure, can you show me?”